poll: Can a cat kill a rat?

Hi,

My MIL recently saw a rat crawl right up her stairs into her kitchen. I read all about mousetraps on the RFD forums and read about how good cats are at catching mice. She called and exterminator and has 13 traps all over her house.

I never owned a cat but my MIL has an outdoor cat that has killed mice before. My question is this....Can a cat kill a rat?

ps. i wanted to make a poll but i don't know if i'm doing this right.......

My jack russells kill rats from time to time. The outdoor cat might kill the rat, it depends on the cat though. Our indoor/outdoor cat we had on the farm would kill rats but the feral cat that moved into the barn wouldn't touch them...

If you have seen one there are probably several more. I have had cats who have killed rats, but poison is the only real answer if you have rats (forget traps - rats are extremely cunning and have an amazing ability to find their way round traps).

I would be more concerned about having poison bait outside than inside - rats like wet covered areas - do you have a ditch that has vegetation that is not cut back or an area of brush that is uncleared?

...Rats are tough little bastards, fast and strong, they would easily kill any domestic house cat.

Sorry, but a hungry cat is a killing machine. Yes, there ARE big rats that might find your average house cat relatively easy to beat up on, but average cat vs. average rat = easy cat victory.

My old part persian housecat with no front claws killed anything and everything when it was in the mood. Rats, rabbits, immature groundhogs, snakes, and even once a red tailed hawk. We had just sent Eight Ball outside, saw the hawk circling and then dive avec lots of screaming, and we all went silent, thinking the cat was dead. About an hour later, Eight Ball drags one dead hawk up on to the deck and was the proudest thing I've ever seen for days.

Your only problem with the cat approach is if you have a cat that prefers to play with its prey rather than kill it. A few years ago we woke up to a room containing 3 small rabbits, which the cat had bought in for fun. Thankfully it never bought a rat in for a tea party...

Sorry, but a hungry cat is a killing machine. Yes, there ARE big rats that might find your average house cat relatively easy to beat up on, but average cat vs. average rat = easy cat victory.

My old part persian housecat with no front claws killed anything and everything when it was in the mood. Rats, rabbits, immature groundhogs, snakes, and even once a red tailed hawk. We had just sent Eight Ball outside, saw the hawk circling and then dive avec lots of screaming, and we all went silent, thinking the cat was dead. About an hour later, Eight Ball drags one dead hawk up on to the deck and was the proudest thing I've ever seen for days.

That will not necessarily keep rats around. Rats will only stay in the area if there is a food source. Is there an open compost heap, or other household garbage/food stuffs outside in a neighbouring lot?

An ordinary tabby can clear a wall five times its own height in one easy leap. Domestic cats can weigh up to 40lb, and reach 30mph. They can seemingly survive for weeks without eating, and fall from high buildings and land on their feet. They also kill birds, slaughter rats and terrorise dogs. And now, a fearless feline has made history by picking a fight with a bear.
The 10-year-old ginger tom, which weighed about 15lb, took umbrage when a 15-stone black bear wandered out of the woods into a garden in West Milford, New Jersey, and attacked with enough ferocity to send the bear scuttling up a garden tree. Veterinary scientists, wildlife experts and cat lovers were not particularly surprised: Felis sylvestris catus has been domesticated for at least 7,000 years, and routinely spends 16 hours a day sleeping in the sunshine or in the warmest corner of the house, but it remains the personification of violence.

When I was a wee lad, my cat brought in weasels it had caught, every now and then... And rabbits, and snakes... She caught a lot of stuff, very impressive given that one of her front paws was a one-clawed remnant of a lawnmower accident.

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And some like a girl who is slender in the waist;
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